Seriously, it's time to hand us the Skyscale

[DarcShriek.5829]

Why stop at sky scale.  Why not just hand us whatever we want?

[Shrike Arghast.3856]

So, I'm pretty new to playing the game hardcore - I've owned it for years, and dabbled multiple times, but only in the last month(ish) having I been playing it multiple hours every day. And, yeah, I think the mounts are a bit too daunting to unlock - especially when so much content is gated (or turned into hardmode) behind both a) possessing them, and b) fully researching them. If you're determined to get the full stable of beasties, then yes, of course you will succeed at it. But I don't think the majority of today's MMORPG players really want to spend a massive amount of time playing out hours of stories and clawing their way all over multiple maps to nab mastery points.

On the other hand, this is kind of what GW2 *is.* The game is basically built around this overworld content - yes, there's some instanced stuff, PvP, and WvW. But most of the playerbase spends their days out in the world unlocking... stuff. And mounts are just one of those various objectives. So, in that sense, if you don't like unlocking them, you don't really like GW2.

It's kind of a quandary. Because I frankly admit that I nearly quit (again) over the double whammy of playing through the story + grabbing mastery/hero points. And I don't look down on people who don't want to do any of that at all - I didn't. I did it, but I don't begrudge people who don't and ultimately conclude that they don't want to play over it.

So... yeah... 

 

[OtakuModeEngage.8679]

7 hours ago, VooDoo.9014 said:

The problem of rewards ruining mmos. If you want to play a game you should be playing the game because you enjoy it. The game shouldn't need to bribe you to play parts of it.

First, im honestly surprised this thread is still a thing... Some people just cant let it go... What you want, wont come to be, now move on already. Now onto this particular comment...

 

Rewards are the only reason people do anything in a game.

*When you kill a monster, you do it for the Rewards of gold, gear you can use or sell, materials you can craft with and sell, and XP to help you level. 

*When you do a quest, you do it for the Rewards of gear, gold, materials, XP, and story progression.

*When you kill a boss or complete a dungeon or raid, you do it for the Rewards of gear, gold, materials, XP, story progression, and prestige.

*When you do a story mission, you do it for the Reward of seeing the story unfold as well gaining gear, gold, materials, and XP.

 

Rewards are a way to showcase your achievements, they are bragging rights, that declare 'I did this!' Whether to others, or just to yourself. Rewards are goals to work towards, tied to roadmaps helping you get there, and challenges you have to overcome to do so. By which your character's power and your skills as a gamer grow in the process, making rewards also a form of progression, how you grow stronger.

 

Were there no rewards, there would be no goals, no incentive to do anything, no reason to want to play and replay, to grind for hours, or keep replaying a difficult battle that you continue to struggle with. It would be a dead game because there would be no point in doing anything. While to varying degrees everybody enjoys some form of challenge, just for the sake of the challenge, there's nothing as annoying as working your kitten off and getting nothing for it. 

[AliamRationem.5172]

8 minutes ago, Shrike Arghast.3856 said:

So, I'm pretty new to playing the game hardcore - I've owned it for years, and dabbled multiple times, but only in the last month(ish) having I been playing it multiple hours every day. And, yeah, I think the mounts are a bit too daunting to unlock - especially when so much content is gated (or turned into hardmode) behind both a) possessing them, and b) fully researching them. If you're determined to get the full stable of beasties, then yes, of course you will succeed at it. But I don't think the majority of today's MMORPG players really want to spend a massive amount of time playing out hours of stories and clawing their way all over multiple maps to nab mastery points.

On the other hand, this is kind of what GW2 *is.* The game is basically built around this overworld content - yes, there's some instanced stuff, PvP, and WvW. But most of the playerbase spends their days out in the world unlocking... stuff. And mounts are just one of those various objectives. So, in that sense, if you don't like unlocking them, you don't really like GW2.

It's kind of a quandary. Because I frankly admit that I nearly quit (again) over the double whammy of playing through the story + grabbing mastery/hero points. And I don't look down on people who don't want to do any of that at all - I didn't. I did it, but I don't begrudge people who don't and ultimately conclude that they don't want to play over it.

So... yeah... 

 

I think you nailed it.  If you just like the game world and want to float around having everything handed to you, then you don't actually like the game at all.  Chances are if you (general "you", not you personally) got what you wanted you'd be gone in a month or two.  Where's the staying power in a game like that?  Meanwhile, the players who have found a reason to be here for years would be bored to tears.

[Shrike Arghast.3856]

16 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I think you nailed it.  If you just like the game world and want to float around having everything handed to you, then you don't actually like the game at all.  Chances are if you (general "you", not you personally) got what you wanted you'd be gone in a month or two.  Where's the staying power in a game like that?  Meanwhile, the players who have found a reason to be here for years would be bored to tears.

I think the problem (if you can call it that) is that GW2 essentially lacks progression in a traditional sense (the ACTUAL progression is these unlocks), and people aren't used to that. Here, things that are considered general kit in other MMORPGs (mounts)... aren't. They're the progression. And I don't know that ArenaNet is doing such a hot job of communicating that message to newcomers (ESPECIALLY now that the raptor is just handed out at 10; this leads newbies to believe they'll soon be screaming through the zone on a griffin). 

In WoW, you get to 20 (or whatever it is now), you pay your (easily acquired) gold, and you have a mount. By the time you reach the other thresholds, you have (if you've been playing right) plenty of gold to afford the other mounts. Mounts there aren't a 'thing' (and they haven't really been since BC). FFXIV has it even easier. And even a fringe game like Black Desert just THROWS tier 8 mounts at the players.

But those games have different priorities. In GW2, mounts are one of the priorities. 

However, I do believe a better job could be done conveying to players "hey, yeah, it's not that rough to get gear here - these big grinds are actually what you're working towards." Instead, I think they kind of throw people to the wolves a bit, and that's where much of this angst comes from.

Edited September 18, 2022 by Shrike Arghast.3856

[RadiantWolf.2058]

I think having something to work towards, like the Skyscale, is fine.

 

But it would be cool to see a few more methods of aerial traversal here and there in Central Tyria. Like updrafts for the gliders. Anyone who plays Heart of Thorns or End of Dragons has a glider, after all. And updrafts are fun.

[slpr.2647]

reading thru all these comments, ive come to conclude, that some folks just arent playing the right kind of game for them.  doing things, regardless of what it actually is, to get things, isnt that why we game?  and if you dont like the "doing things" , well, wrong game type perhaps

 

[Freya.9075]

Having goals in mmos are important. Gw2 has so many collections and goals in vertical progression. Other games with horizontal progression have way more grind when it comes to doing the same content over and over to get your goals. And it comes in waves as new expansions or change of top level/gear releases. 
 

Tera fell victim for this. When ppl got their gear, all they did was afk in cities to show off their shinies and the game felt dead. Gw2 does things right by adding collections and content everywhere in the game. And it’s so much content that you can choose what you want to play. That’s where the fun is for many players. They have managed to make all areas of the game still viable for level 80 players. 

[ugrakarma.9416]

skycale is more easy than full ascedend gear(not counting trinkets), os past years, before alternative currencies. when u have only  silverwastes as farming method, and have try to farm at least 10g/day. 

[Nate Anabe.6091]

op started a pity party for those too lazy to get it that want it without the work

Edited September 18, 2022 by Nate Anabe.6091
missing

[lezbefriends.7516]

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

[Ausar.9542]

5 hours ago, DarcShriek.5829 said:

Why stop at sky scale.  Why not just hand us whatever we want?

you can, its called Gem Store/ Gem Store Conversion. I like it

[Ausar.9542]

1 hour ago, slpr.2647 said:

reading thru all these comments, ive come to conclude, that some folks just arent playing the right kind of game for them.  doing things, regardless of what it actually is, to get things, isnt that why we game?  and if you dont like the "doing things" , well, wrong game type perhaps

 

thats your opinion. Not everybody shares that opinion on how this genre should be played. I personally like less grind and more playing what people enjoy playing. Was glad Legendary were added to WvW since its what I mostly play instead of Raids and Factals. I dont even touch SPvP, but that also had people that like it. I would hate to be forced to grind SPvP just to get something. 

[Nate Anabe.6091]

24 minutes ago, lezbefriends.7516 said:

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

In other words your point is a sharp as fingernails on a jelly fish

[Ausar.9542]

37 minutes ago, Freya.9075 said:

Having goals in mmos are important. Gw2 has so many collections and goals in vertical progression. Other games with horizontal progression have way more grind when it comes to doing the same content over and over to get your goals. And it comes in waves as new expansions or change of top level/gear releases. 
 

Tera fell victim for this. When ppl got their gear, all they did was afk in cities to show off their shinies and the game felt dead. Gw2 does things right by adding collections and content everywhere in the game. And it’s so much content that you can choose what you want to play. That’s where the fun is for many players. They have managed to make all areas of the game still viable for level 80 players. 

There is also plenty of examples on the other end of games with massive grind, that just felt like massive burn out. Look at New World for example.  Most people didnt even make it to endgame according to Steam Achievement tracker. 

 

Fun comes before any of that stuff.  

[AliamRationem.5172]

37 minutes ago, lezbefriends.7516 said:

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

So everybody who disagrees with you is evil? 🙄

[OtakuModeEngage.8679]

1 hour ago, lezbefriends.7516 said:

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

This is the most ridiculous argument I've ever read. Are you just trolling? You do realize thag technically the Skyscale is free, right? You don't buy the Skyscale, you earn it. Money has nothing to do with it, and thus neither does capitalism... Even in socialism, everyone is expected to work their fair share, you cant just do nothing and expect everything to be given to you. 

 

Also, what people who complain about how difficult, time consuming, and/or expensive it is to get the Skyscale don't understand, is that the achievement quest isn't an annoying gate blocking your progress, its story content. And skyscales aren't just mounts, they are characters. And just like any other character who joins your party, you have to befriend them through story missions first. And that's exactly what you do in the unlock quest. 

1. You find out the skyscales are sick and dying

2. You discover how/why they are dying

3. You find a way to cure them and save their race

4. You raise the first new generation

5. You bond with one of the new generation, building a deep attachment

6. You help your new friend grow and build a saddle for them

 

All of this adds value to the mount, and if you take it away/skip it, they are just a generic mount like in any other game. A perfect example is my raptor. There is zero back story, its just a mount i bought at the raptor stables, nothing more, we dont have a real connection, he just works for me.  But my skyscale is an actual adventure companion, with a backstory and a bond.

[Machineuzi.5604]

5 hours ago, lezbefriends.7516 said:

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

 

Unfortunately for you I have just decided that I am right and you are wrong. Sorry it had to be this way.

[DarcShriek.5829]

6 hours ago, lezbefriends.7516 said:

4 months later, I stand by what I said: Skyscale should be handed to us... but once again, evil capitalist naysayers are ruining the potential utopia.

Everyone that disagrees with me is a kitten!   Seriously, you just did the whole SJW thing simply because people don't think the skyscale needs to be handed out for nothing.  

Edited September 18, 2022 by DarcShriek.5829

[AliamRationem.5172]

3 minutes ago, DarcShriek.5829 said:

Everyone that disagrees with me is a kitten! 

Well, I have been known to enjoy a ball of yarn now and then.

[kharmin.7683]

Seriously, it's time to close/lock this thread.

[Ausar.9542]

34 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Seriously, it's time to close/lock this thread.

why? So you can have another thread to add to your Default Forum Search spam post?

[Ashen.2907]

17 hours ago, Drennon.7190 said:

Every gets dragon riding for free in the new expansion, because they don’t gate keep a core function of the game. Enjoy your fake prestige. 

You do realize that restricting its acquisition to getting it in the new paid expansion is, by definition, gate keeping it.

Then there is the fact that, again by definition, if it isn't part of the core game it is not a core function of the game.

[Forum Moderator.3074]

Locking this thread as it has outdone it purpose and now it's has derailied with low quality posts.